The Few, The Some, The Many?

Technology is clearly both a blessing and a curse.

I’m in the middle of launching our Campus for Communities and for months now have been immersed in the often perplexing world of technology.

However, I’m blessed to have found a company with a brilliant CEO who has become a good friend. He and his stellar team have helped me navigate and integrate an incredible number of options from among many often perplexing choices. That integration piece has been key and in my opinion is what has made our partnership such a great fit.

Over the last several months, he and I have made a point of connecting via Skype on an almost weekly basis. Given all the building that is taking place, there are usually a number of specific tasks on our agenda, however we also allow and value the time we carve out and spend diverging into deep and meaningful sidebar conversations about things that matter. I always learn from him, I always laugh, and when I hang up, my brain always hurts.

This week I was again reminded why it is so important to make time for that kind of conversation.

As we were discussing the social media campaign he is orchestrating to market the Campus for Communities website, he happened to mention a phrase used by one of his other clients — Dick and Jane’s Baking Company. And yes his name is Dick and he’s married to Jane. How cool is that? They have been wonderfully successful selling healthy and educational snacks for students.

Apparently Dick often prioritizes using a system he calls, The Few, The Some, The Many.

In other words, if a task falls in The Few category, it is constant and important and needs our attention. If something is not essential it lands in The Some category. And, if it’s something that we don’t want to let go of, or see as having some possibility somewhere down the line, we can put it in The Many category for when we are able to do more picking and choosing.

I was struck by the idea.

Given today’s data overload and often frantic pace, what a simple yet practical framework for organization and time management.

So while anyone listening to our conversation might have questioned the detour that took us to the discussion about The Few, The Some, The Many, it turns out to have been time well spent.

Our meandering led us to decide we would use exactly that system to organize the Campus marketing plan. While for sure The Few, The Some, The Many may not be a typical approach, but, given the complexity of what we’re trying to do, and the many potential markets we’re trying to reach, it is an excellent framework for organizing the 18 pages of notes we have already brainstormed. We’ll use that same strategy for organizing all of the potential markets for the Campus for Communities.

In the end, The Few, The Some, and The Many will keep me focused on the essential marketing tasks while not losing sight of many other potential strategies that could be applied in the future.

While it was a conversation that looped in and around, in the end it came full circle to a practical solution that happened simply because we made time to talk. Who knew?

Posted on 12-12-13

Comments:

Hi Brenda,

I am thrilled to hear that you like and have utilized the Few / Some / Many strategy.

It has helped me tremendously in attacking the size and scope of a sometimes daunting marketplace.

Just let your brain sort it out categorically and it will suddenly all make sense.